By Emmanuel Ogbodo
WhatsApp announced that its parent company, Meta, will be appealing the $220 million fine imposed by the Federal Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (FCCPC) for violating Nigeria’s data privacy laws.
This statement was made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) on Saturday in Lagos, following a statement from FCCPC’s acting Executive Chairman, Adamu Abdullahi. The FCCPC asserted that Meta had denied Nigerian users control over their data.
WhatsApp clarified that in 2021, they informed users globally about how interactions with businesses would work. Despite initial confusion, this feature has since become popular.
“We disagree with the decision today as well as the fine and Meta will be appealing the decision,” WhatsApp stated. “In 2021, we explained to users globally how talking to businesses would work. While there was initial confusion, it has actually proven quite popular.”
On 19th July 2024, FCCPC imposed a $220 million penalty on Meta Platforms Incorporated for alleged discriminatory practices against Nigerian data and consumers. This penalty follows a joint investigation by the FCCPC and the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) into Meta’s conduct, privacy policies, and practices between May 2021 and December 2023.
The Commission concluded that Meta’s actions over this 38-month period constituted continuing infringements of the FCCPA and NDPC regulations. After reviewing the evidence and providing Meta ample opportunity to present their position, the FCCPC entered a final order.
Fines against Meta are not uncommon. Last year, the European Data Protection Agency fined Facebook a record €1.2 billion for not complying with the EU’s privacy rulebook. The Irish Data Protection Commission stated that Meta, the parent company of Facebook, violated the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by transferring large amounts of European Facebook users’ personal data to the United States without adequately protecting them from U.S. data surveillance practices.
Previously, Amazon had been fined €746 million by Luxembourg, and the Irish regulator imposed four fines on Meta’s platforms—Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp—ranging from €225 million to €405 million between 2021 and 2023.
Over the past five years, Big Tech companies like Amazon, Meta, and Google have faced the largest fines imposed under the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) privacy laws.
